A documentary filmmaker who sees a bright future for rail calls the province's plan to sell Ontario Northland's rail service "extreme short-sightedness."

"They're selling the store to pay the rent," said Dan Nystedt, who spent three months riding Canada's rail system to gather footage for his recently-released documentary De-Railed: The National Dream.

Leaders in several Northern Ontario communities were caught off guard last week when the province announced it would be selling nearly all divisions of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, including its rail freight service.

?The Ontario Northlander train service that runs between Toronto and Cochrane will be cancelled and replaced with bus service. The Polar Bear Express service that runs from Cochrane to Moosonee will remain operational.

The move runs counter to what Nystedt said he heard repeatedly making his documentary: that rail is going to play a big part in Canada's future.

"Why our governments would be abandoning that is beyond comprehension," said Nystedt.

He said the Ring of Fire project to exploit vast chromite deposits in the James Bay lowlands is a good example, where rail will be required to get the minerals out.

"It's very unfortunate the government doesn't see that it could be the government/public making that money," said Nystedt.

As for passenger rail, Nystedt said it will be a "difficult struggle," to maintain those services in the North if they are bought up by companies like CN, which he said has shown itself more interested in freight.

"They've really tried to wash their hands of passengers, because all the money is in freight," said Nystedt. "That's why having rail in the hands of government and subsidized is the only way that passenger rail can really survive."

Nystedt said passenger rail subsidy, "doesn't even come close," to what governments put into highway systems, and moving away from passenger rail is short-sighted, with the increasing cost of energy.

"It's going to become less economically feasible for people to be driving from here to Toronto in cars or taking planes," said Nystedt. "Passenger rail service is something that can sustain us in the future and our governments are letting it go."